LYB(Holiday)L Week 5 (December Prompts) + Linkup Announcement // Seeking Holiday Calm

This was supposed to post yesterday guys... whoops. 24 hour vets, no sleep, etc. does not lead to great blogging. #keepinitreal

It is almost December! :) I'm so excited to get into the Christmas holidays, but definitely feeling a bit of stress! Am I alone? Excited to be kicking off month two of LYBHolidayL! :)  

On to week 5's December prompts for LYBHolidayL! :) 

New here? The What & Why

Shea from Shea Lennon and I are super psyched to be continuing LYB(Holiday)L this month! Starting December 1st we have one prompt per day to help us live a calmer, more organized, and peaceful holiday season! Each week we'll share the week's prompts, and our own ideas for how we'll do them. We'll give brief re-caps on the previous week as we go. The full list of daily prompts is on IG, and will be linked at the bottom of each of my posts. If you're a plan ahead type person, tape it into your planner or write it out to start thinking ahead. We hope that you'll join us! Use #LYBHolidayL to let us know when you tag along on social media! :) (see the full intro post and details, here).

November Recap:

This challenged helped me to get through a majorly stressful month mostly unscathed. ;) Following the challenge helped me to keep calm, take time for myself, and get organized here and there. It also gave me permission to spend time on myself and to get rid of things on my to-do list. :) 

A few highlights:

• THIS AMAZING COMMUNITY OF LADIES WORKING ON THIS CHALLENGE TOGETHER! :)  I loved connecting with you all and seeing how you made the challenge your own! I'm so excited to start December with you! :) 
• getting a jump on some holiday prep work. I felt much more organized and even a bit ahead of the game from time to time!
• having a full gratitude log. Even on the worst of days, I was able to put something down. :) 
• gratitude quote searching left me with so many quotes that are really inspiring. I even put some of them in my November Daily album! :)

If you joined in in any way during November, thank you so much!! It means a lot to us, and it is nice to feel like there is a community of people trying to focus on the season, and who are rooting for you to succeed as you do the same! :) :) I am so excited to start on December! Here we go! :) 

Week 5 (December Prompts):

December 1 - Make hot chocolate. Here's our favorite "grown up" version.

We love this spiked peppermint hot chocolate. It's our tradition to drink it while we watch Love Actually each year. :)

December 2 - Shop your closet for possible holiday outfits: what can you mix and match from years past? It’s likely you won’t need to do a lot of shopping. And if you do, you’ll know exactly what holes you need to fill!

I'm so excited about this one. We are going to a handful of holiday things (concerts, parties, etc.) where we'll want to look nice. I need to go through my closet and pick out some outfit ideas in advance. 1) This will keep me from spending and spending, and 2) it will have me ready faster on those nights, less fighting with hangers and running around looking for a certain sweater! :)

December 3 - Start a new holiday tradition! This is the year. Keep it simple, make your list, get your supplies, YOU CAN DO IT! (If you brainstormed in November, now is the time to put it into action!)

We are going to be doing an Advent calendar for the first time, and also trying to go to a few local events that we never make time for! We'll see how it goes! :) Which leads me to....

Linkup Announcement!

Shea and I both had the idea to FINALLY do Advent calendars in our homes this year, and we thought it would be fun to do a linkup where you all can share your calendars if you made them, but also any of your fun holiday traditions in your home! :) No matter what you celebrate this month, we'd love for you to share it with us! The linkup will be on December 13th! We hope that you will join us in sharing your family's winter holiday traditions!

What is your go-to holiday event outfit?! (help a girl out!)

Are you planning to start a new tradition this year?!

I'll be posting about the prompts using #LYBHolidayL on Instagram! Make sure to check in with Shea on her IG too! :) @simplyalexandra12 & @shealennon

XO,

Alexandra